Book Review: Pacific Rim Aftermath by C. Scott et al.

Pacific Rim Aftermath written by Cavan Scott, art by Richard Elson and Beni Lobel, and colors by Guy Major

This story picks up nine years after the conclusion of the first Pacific Rim movie, which naturally ended with the triumph of humanity over the Kaiju, gigantic monsters invading from another dimension. We used giant robots called "Jaegers" to defeat the bad guys. Now the Kaiju are unhappy memories and people try to get back to a normal life. Former Jaeger pilot Griffin now works for the Mech Czar, a Russian crime lord in Santa Monica, California. The Mech Czar wants to take over territory from the Italians and has developed some mini-Jaegers to fight on her side. The only problem is Hannibal Chau. As a Kaiju profiteer, Chau has fallen on hard times now that he can't sell leftover Kaiju body parts and fluids as snake oil cures. Chau has a new scheme to get back into the old business--growing his own Kaiju. It's not long before Chau's storyline and Griffin's come crashing together.

While the premise is sort of interesting, it loses a lot of the charm of the original movie. The extra-epic scale of the monsters and the heroes' machines made Pacific Rim a lot of fun. This story is meant to be grittier but it just isn't compelling. It's also meant as a lead-in to the sequel, which I did not see. This book has not inspired me to watch the second movie, though I would like to go back and re-experience the fun of the first film.

Not recommended.